Kootenai wrestling reboots, with some help from friends

Imagine a program has a state champion one year, and is gone the next.

Well, it happened to the Kootenai High wrestling team.

For the first time since 2011, when senior Ty Beare won the 285-pound title in the 2A meet, with a little help from their friends, the Warriors will have a wrestling program again this winter.

NO, THE school hasn’t just canceled the season. Kootenai students interested in wrestling have been able to co-op with the St. Maries program since 2012. Kootenai has had at least one student turn out for wrestling each year since then.

Wrestlers from Kootenai must compete as Warriors during district and state competitions.

“We’ve got six kids out this year,” Kootenai coach Jerry Brown said. “We’re going to be young, but we’ll have a team.”

Earlier this fall, Kootenai canceled its football season due to low turnout. The hopes are the program returns next fall.

“We’ve got 12 middle school kids on the wrestling team as well,” Brown said. “There’s only 33 kids in the middle school, and 12 are wrestling, which is huge for us. That’s our future. We’ve still got some work to do with the high school kids.”

Kootenai will compete with other area 3A and 2A schools, with a few 5A junior varsity programs mixed in.

Brown added the help of those coaches in St. Maries and Kellogg helped get the program off its feet.

“We really appreciate those coaches for their help with using shoes, buses and getting the program going again,” Brown said. “Those coaches have been awesome.”

“I’m tickled to death to see someone take that job on again,” St. Maries coach Dennis Humphrey said. “It’s been a long time for them, and I admire them for getting it going again. And he’s getting kids out. If we can keep them retained in the coming years, it’s going to be great for the area.”

AT THE start of the season, if someone came up to me on the street and told me the Seahawks were going to be 8-2 after their bye week, I might have called them a liar.

Just how could a team that nearly lost to the still-winless Bengals at home, got smacked around by New Orleans and Baltimore, be 8-2.

Easy, don’t lose on the road.

It used to be where playing at CenturyLink Field was the ultimate advantage, with the crowd screaming, jumping and causing minor earthquakes during playoff games.

Shoot, Seattle barely escaped an upset against Tampa Bay a few weeks ago.

Being on the road might have turned into the best advantage for the Seahawks, should they advance to the playoffs in one odd year in the NFC.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at (208) 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @JECdAPress.